The Romanian hits just keep on coming. One of the latest to garner theatrical release here in the USA (and now on DVD) is Tuesday, After Christmas (Marti, dupa craciun) from Radu Muntean, the man who gave us Boogie (Summer Holiday) back in 2008. His new one is one of the leanest (only 99 minutes), most realistic-yet-refined, and utterly poised probings of the dissolution of a marriage that I've yet seen. Easily holding your attention from moment to moment, the movie still sneaks up on you. Only at the end -- maybe quite awhile afterward -- will you fully realize what an accomplishment is this graceful, sad, caring-but-unsentimental film.

Of the 40 or so movies Woody Allen has directed, about a half-dozen of them are masterpieces. A whole bunch more are really, really good, and then there are a few duds. Occasionally, though, he knows how to make a movie that can just make you smile. Radio Days (1987) did that, and so did Everyone Says I Love You (1996). And now Midnight in Paris does it. This new movie proves that Allen has moved past the bitter, angry section of his career and moved into what I call the "peaceful resignation" phase. Yasujiro Ozu made the same discovery: that one can find a certain comfort in the realization that some things never change.

First-time writer/director J.C. Chandor wrote the Margin Call script as the real life financial crisis was happening in late 2008, when he himself was in a bit of a career and financial panic, and the final film reflects this feeling. Unlike a lot of films on the subject, even ones that purport to criticize (paging Oliver Stone), Margin Call doesn't romanticize Wall Street, and it also doesn't overtly moralize or even judge.

Compiled from staff picks and writer contributions, we're back with the 2011 Edition of the GreenCine Holiday Gift Guide! Our favorite picks for the best movies, music, books, and more for your your entire holiday shopping list. See also: 2009 and 2010 archived for even more ideas.

There's more reasons than ever to give the gift of GreenCine membership, good for 2 to up to 12 months and customizable with a gift message. Gift your favorite cinephile access to the best arthouse, Criterion, horror, indie, and otherwise ecclectic selection of over 25,000 titles. GreenCine memberships keep our community of film writers, bloggers, and enthusiasts alive, kickin', and chattin' about film, and your contribution goes towards organizations that promote the arts.

Jean Renoir’s Rules of the Game (also available for rent on Blu-Ray thanks to a reissue from Criterion) is a five-star a classic that anyone who cares about movies should have seen multiple times by now.

Renoir’s film has long since cemented its reputation, belonging in the company of such hallowed untouchables as Citizen Kane (also on Blu-Ray), Vertigo, the Godfather films (Blu-Ray), and Sunrise. If you haven’t seen it by now, shame on you. So – pedantic brow-beating aside – what’s the fuss all about?

There's no slowin' down with the holidays, with another strong showing for new DVDs this week. Don't miss Sion Sono's 4-hour epic or the late Raul Ruiz's sprawling, epic period piece. Lots of cinematic gems to light up your holidays.

Nowadays, it’s feasible that an eleven-year-old elephant keeper could become a global superstar, provided he was aligned with the right reality TV show or viral video. In 1937, however, Sabu (nee Shelar Shaik) found fame via a more traditional route: by starring in several international box office hits. Sabu was an Urdu-speaking mahout (elephant driver) before he was pulled from obscurity by a location scout working for producer Alexander Korda. The Criterion Collection’s latest Eclipse series pays tribute to three of Sabu’s best-known entertainments.

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"Its insistent zaniness makes Soul Kitchen very different in spirit from Mr. Akin's two previous films, Head-On and The Edge of Heaven, which established him as a major European filmmaker," writes the NY Times' Stephen Holden. "Seriously silly, it evokes the same high-spirited, pan-European multiculturalism in which people of all ages and backgrounds blithely traverse national borders as they aggressively pursue their destinies." It's a film, adds Movieline, "whose dance steps are determined by any number of mishaps and misfortunes; like the dance floor of a great club on a good night, it's gorgeous, unruly and exhilarating all at once."